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In pictures: Slow Food helps local producers go global

This year's Slow Food conference takes place in Turin, bringing together food producers from around the world at "Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre". Slow Food producers maintain traditional methods of production, like this salt which is harvested on the terraces of Añana, in the Basque Country. Salt making there dates back more than 1,000 years.

In Kenya nettles are a versatile ingredient, available even during draughts. They are eaten in porridge, cooked as a fresh vegetable, used as medicine and made into tea. In the Molo highlands a group of women make dried nettles, developing their business with the help of the Slow Food organisation.

Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, is made from the hand-picked stigmas of the saffron crocus. It takes 150,000 flowers to make 1kg of dry saffron. On the Souktana plateau in Morocco, small farms produce high quality saffron with an intense aroma and taste.

Huehuetenango highland coffee is considered by many to be the best in Guatemala. The Slow Food organisation has helped small coffee producers double the price of their coffee to international markets.

These sun-dried figs are produced in the Puglia region of southern Italy, using methods largely the same as those used in Roman times. After drying in the sun for five days the figs can be stuffed with toasted almonds, fennel seeds, and a slice of lemon peel.

The Slow Food movement aims to help regenerate remote rural areas. The licuri fruit grown in rural Brazil (left) have many uses. Children even wear them as edible necklaces for snack time. In another part of the world, Macedonian sheep farming (right) is one way remote mountain areas can flourish by producing kashkaval, an ancient salted sheep’s cheese.

In Austria, a centuries-old technique for preserving cabbages is being revived. The cabbages are boiled then stored in a wood-lined pit to ferment. Grubenkraut keep for up to three years and historically were an important source of vitamins in harsh mountain regions.

In the Timbuktu and Gao regions of Mali, small threads of katta pasta are shaped by hand. The thin noodles are dried in the sun, then toasted and eaten with meat or fish. Slow Food is helping to set up a women’s co-operative for makers of katta and traditional local breads.

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